The present invention relates to apparatus for exercising horses or like animals, and more particularly to apparatus for simultaneously exercising a plurality of horses or like animals.
For centuries, horses have been domesticated and bred by man for competitive racing, among other purposes. During the evolution of this sport, different, well-defined types of horse racing developed. Among the more popular types of horse racing is harness racing, which encompasses both trotting and pacing races. Typically, only standardbred horses are trained for and participate in harness racing, these horses being an American breed of light horses, largely of Thoroughbred ancestry, bred to attain a standard of speed and noted for their endurance. Those standardbred horses bred and trained to move, when harnessed to a two wheeled racing cart or sulky, at a moderately fast gait in which the legs move in diagonal pairs are typically referred to as "trotters," whereas the term "pacers" designates those horses which have been bred and trained to move, when harnessed to a sulky, with a lateral gait in which the parallel sets of legs move together. The racing cart, or sulky, utilized in such races generally comprises two spaced wheels, a lightweight arched bar spanning the wheels with a seat mounted on the bar midway between the wheels, and two shafts forwardly extending from the bar for attachment to a horse's harness. Specially designed harnessing is used with both trotters and pacers to somewhat restrain and control the horse's gait to achieve the required gait for each type of racing.
Harness racing has grown significantly in recent years, this fact being reflected by the steady growth in the number of racing tracks, scheduled races, and prize money awarded. As a result of this increasing growth and interest, harness racing has progressed from a seasonal , "gentleman's sport" to a year round sport having a significant economic impact upon the locales in which it is popular. As with all types of horse racing, the horses alone represent a sizable monetary investment. It is therefore apparent that the proper training, conditioning, and health care of these racing horses is of primary concern to horse owners and trainers. For this purpose, trotters and pacers are conventionally exercised daily in a manner similar to that in which they race by utilizing a two-wheeled exercise cart, commonly referred to as a "jog cart," which is simply a narrower version of a racing sulky with longer shafts. Thirty minutes of daily exercise on a jog cart is generally considered necessary to achieve a proper conditioning effect and to maintain a horse in proper racing shape.
The disadvantages of this manner of exercise are readily apparent. Although obviously a racing driver is not required for exercise purposes, a trained and qualified driver is required for each jog cart in operation. Such persons are not generally available, and it therefore is often necessary to train personnel in the proper handling of trotters and pacers, and in the proper operation of a jog cart, and to educate such persons as to proper exercise techniques. The equipment required for this type of exercising also represents a significant monetary investment. In addition to the jog cart required, harnessing must be worn by the horse inasmuch as this is the only practical manner of attaching the jog cart to the horse. Boots which partially cover a horse's hooves and legs are also generally worn by the horse during exercise to prevent injury to the horse as a result of its hooves striking its legs during exercising. At presently prevailing prices, the cost of one complete set of this equipment (i.e. jog cart, harness, and boots) generally exceeds one thousand dollars. Of course, each individual piece of equipment is subject to breakage, thereby necessitating periodic repair and maintenance expense, and, in any event, has a limited life, thereby necessitating periodic replacement.
Perhaps even more significant a consideration in this regard is the investment in time required to exercise horses by the jog cart method. As hereinbefore mentioned, at least thirty minutes of exercise is needed daily for each horse. It is therefore evident that the man-hours required to exercise one's horses is directly related to the number of jog carts and qualified drivers available, and increases proportionally with the number of horses to be exercised. Thus, three hours would be required for two drivers utilizing two jog carts to properly exercise twelve horses. This task can be particularly unpleasant during winter months when cold weather can make prolonged outdoor activity such as this almost unbearable for the jog cart drivers. It should also be noted that the above calculation disregards the fact that each horse must be fitted with a harness and attached to the jog cart before it can be exercised and that, at the completion of its exercise period, it must be disengaged from the jog cart, its harness removed, and it must be returned to its stall. The time required to complete this process for each horse to be exercised can greatly increase the overall time required. In addition, each piece of equipment must be cleaned daily at the completion of the overall exercise period, thereby adding to the total man-hours exhausted by this process.
In addition to making the exercising of horses unbearably unpleasant at times, the forces of weather often make it impossible. Since the surface of most racing and exercise tracks is either clay or another type of dirt, rainy weather often makes tracks too muddy to be used. As a result of the excitable nature of horses and the relatively little degree of control exercisable by the driver of a jog cart over the horse harnessed thereto, it is generally inadvisable to attempt to exercise horses on a paved roadway, although it should be recognized that this, in itself, would not be injurious to the horses. Thus, there are times when the daily exercise routine must be forgone.
In spite of the above-outlined disadvantages of the jog cart method of exercising trotters and pacer, relatively few alternative methods or devices have been proposed. One such apparatus is a power operated treadmill exerciser such as the "Anamill" treadmill marketed by Standardbred Anamill, Inc., of Lima, Ohio, or the "Jetline" treadmill marketed by DeMull Sale Barn of Sand Lake, Mich. As with treadmill exercisers utilized by human beings for exercise, these exercise machines suffer certain drawbacks. Although some degree of exercising or training effect may be achieved with such devices, a significant amount of energy and muscular effort is required for a horse to maintain its coordination and balance when jogging in place under the impetus of a treadmill. It is evident that such a device does not adequately simulate jogging on land, and therefore the gait training and muscle development achieved by the jog car method does not result from the use of such devices.
In contrast to the above-described exercise devices, the present invention provides an exercise apparatus with which one person can simultaneously exercise a number of horses without a jog cart or other conventional exercise equipment generally employed, while maintaining a greater degree of control over the horses than with a jog cart, thereby reducing the overall exercise time, the equipment cost, maintenance, and replacement, and the personnel expense required with conventional exercise methods, and making possible the exercising of horses in all types of weather conditions.